Daniel edwaed bishop



(No Model.)

D. E. BISHOP.

RAIL JOINT.

No. 308,460. Patented Nov. 25.1884.

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UNITED STATES ATENT FFIcE,

DANIEL EDWARD BISHOP, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

RAIL-JOINT.

PECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 308,460, dated November 25, 1884.

Application filed January 15, 1884. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL E. BISHOP, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful im provements in devices for preventing the depression of the ends of railroad-rails; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Heretoi'ore fish-plates have been constructed in which the upper longitudinal edges have been provided with inner lateral arms or projections to pass through grooves in the adjacent ends of the necks of the rails, to prevent the rails from depressing at theirjoints, and such plates have been carried down on opposite sides of the rails around their base flanges, and their lower vertical branches con nected a sut'ticient distance beneath the rails.

The object of my invention is to improve devices of this character by having the lateral or transverse arms so constructed as to overlap each other the entire width of the railneek, so that in some seasons of the year when the plates are contracted by the cold the lateral 1 overlapping arms will not be caused to leave the neck of the rails or separate so as to weaken the joints and allow depression of the rails ends. This object I accomplish by the means shown and illustrated in the accompa nying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a representation of a pair of rails in transverse section and partly in perspective. Fig. 2-is a transverse sectional view of the same, taken across the joint of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view of a modification.

Referring by letter to the said drawings, A indicates a pair of rails of any ordinary or approved construction, having the necks at their ends adjacent to the rail-heads provided with the ordinary notches or recesses, a, for the passage of the lateral arms or projections b of the fish-plates B. These fish-plates are designed to engage the sides or necks of the rails in the usual manner at their joints,"and are turned outwardly and then inwardly at their lower portions, to form a groove or seat for the base-flanges of the rails, as shown at C, after which the free ends are carried vertically downward beneath the base of the rails, as at D, where they assume a vertical parallel position with relation to each other, and connected by means of a transverse bolt, The fish-plates are also provided on their upper inner longitudinal sides with lateral projections or arms I) b. These arms are ofa lengthequal to the width of the rail-necks, or they may be of still greater length, so that when contraction takes place the said arms cannot leave the railnecks. It will also be seen that by having the arms I) b overlap each other a much more substantial joint may be formed, inasmuch as the arms when great weight is brought upon the rails, 'instead of having a tendency to separate, will have a constant'and firm engagcmentwith each other. One of the fislrplates should be of a length greater than the other equal to the thickness of the lateral arms or projections 12, and the said arms may be made to extend from the upper longitudinal edges of the fish-plates, or formed a sufficient distance beneath the same to allow the top beveled edge of the said plates to engage the under heads of the rails, as shown.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

As an improvement in ra-ilway-railjoints in which the necks of the rails are slotted or notched for the passage of lugs arranged'on the sides of fish-plates to enter the said slots, the combination, with the rails, of the fishplates, constructed as described, one being of I greater height than the other, and both provided on their upper longitudinal edges at the meeting ends of the rails with inwardlyexteuding arms 6 b, adapted to overlap each other at the upper edge of the rail-necks, the said fish-plates being vertically extended beneath the web of the rails and connected to each other, and provided with intermediate longitudinal grooves to seat the rails, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 6th day of December, 1883.

DANIEL EDWARD BISHOP.

WVitnesses:

WILLIAM PALMATIER, P. GARDNER OorrEN. 

